


My heart’s been borrowed and yours has been blue.

by Lie2theTruth



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/F, Girls Love Girls Like Boys Do, Inevitable appearances by Steve's children aka the party, Minor Harringrove on the side, Modern AU, No updates planned at this time, Ronance, Ronancy, Where are these kid's real parents anyway?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-09-18 20:57:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20319388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lie2theTruth/pseuds/Lie2theTruth
Summary: Robin is alone her senior year of high school as her friends are now living adult lives. Except for Steve who still works at the Starbucks where they worked together over the summer. Billy and Steve are roommates and act like an old married couple. Billy taking business classes at the local community college at night and working at a mechanic’s shop during the day. He hopes to own his own one day. And Nancy, although not exactly Robin’s friend, is working at the local paper and taking journalism classes online. The kids are still around and Will and El are still in town. The only one that left was Jonathan who moved to Chicago to go to art school.





	1. I Promise That You'll Never Find Another Like Me

**Author's Note:**

> You can bet your ass I used a lyric from Lover for the title.

Robin was chilling at Billy and Steve’s as usual. She missed working at Starbucks with her dingus, but her parents had told her she needed to concentrate on school this year as well as college applications. She really had no idea where she wanted to go or what she wanted to major in, but she certainly wasn’t going to tell them that.

“Why do you look so glum, Rob?” Steve inquired. He had a towel slung around his hips and was using another towel to dry his hair.

“Ugh… put on some clothes will ya?” she groaned, shielding her eyes. She didn’t even have to look to know that Billy was probably drooling right now. Sometimes they were just too gross for words.

“You know Billy hates the smell of coffee so forgive me if I’m trying to please my boyfriend,” he replied haughtily.

“Babe, you please me in lots of different…” Billy began.

“Okay that’s it,” Robin declared. “I’m leaving. You two are making me sick.”

“Rob, don’t be like that. I will put on some clothes and Billy will go in the other room so you can tell me what’s on your mind.”

She peaked between her fingers to see Billy going out on their balcony for a smoke and Steve going into their room to get dressed.

Robin sat back against the couch. She was on the floor, knees close to her chest and her arms were wrapped around her legs. It was the position she took when she was most uncomfortable.

Her friend came back to the living room and plopped down next to her. “What’s up?”

“It’s just lonely at school. I mean it was before, but… Never mind. It’s stupid.”

“It’s not. But I get it. Too bad I didn’t fail senior year so I could be in class with you this semester. I did come close though.”

His lame joke brought a small smile to Robin’s face. “Shut up, dingus.”

They sat in silence for awhile, which was surprisingly comfortable. It was only broken by Steve’s phone ringing. Leaning over, he took a look at the caller ID. “Hmm… It’s Nancy. That’s weird. I thought she was in Chicago visiting Jonathan.”

He picked up the phone, “Hey, Nance… what’s up?” There was quiet for a long while and Robin sensed something was wrong.

“God, what a fuckin’ asshole. I’m sorry. You can definitely come over if you want. Robin’s over here, too.”

A few more words were exchanged before Steve hung up the phone. “Well,” he said, turning towards her, “She went all the way over there just for him to break up with her. Kinda shitty if you ask me.”

“Did she say why?”

“She did… I think at least. It was kind of hard to understand through the crying.” He made a worried face, which prompted Robin to give him a reassuring squeeze.

“I guess I better let Billy know we’ll be having one more for dinner. I think he was planning on making spaghetti anyway. Can you let Nancy in when she gets here? I’m not much help in the kitchen but damn do I love to watch him cook.”

“Get out of here you weirdo,” Robin laughed. And with a shove from her, Steve got up and practically skipped to get his boyfriend.

Robin hadn’t thought much of Nancy when they were in school at the same time. She thought the other girl was just a little too much of a perfectionist to by any fun. Also the details on Nancy and Steve’s break-up were still unclear to her and the fact they were still friends was baffling. But when they were altogether it wasn’t so bad. Mainly because the kids were there, too, and it was utter chaos. Oh and Jonathan, too. The couple were attached at the hip.

Robin thought even less of Jonathan. Sure he took nice pictures, but what other redeeming quality did he have? She wasn’t into boys, but even she was aware that Steve was clearly the better option.

She almost didn’t hear it because it was so faint, but it was definitely a knock on Steve’s apartment door. Robin got up and went to open it. Of course she came face to face with Nancy Wheeler. Little Miss Perfect sure didn’t look that way now. Her mascara was smeared and her clothes rumpled.

“Hey, come in,” Robin said softly. “Steve and Billy are in the kitchen I think, making dinner.”

“I’m not really hungry,” the other girl sniffled.

“When was the last time you ate though?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Then you are hungry, you’re just too upset to realize it. Come on.” Robin grabbed Nancy’s arm and tugged her gently to where the boys were.

“Hey Nancy,” Billy waved from his spot by the stovetop.

Steve didn’t say anything he just sprinted over and wrapped her in a huge hug.

Meanwhile Robin leaned against the doorframe and watched this exchange feeling a little left out. She didn’t know Nancy well enough to say anything meaningful and it might be weird giving her a hug.

“Okay, Nance. Sit down and spill. What exactly was his reasoning? You had planned out everything and then he goes and fucks everything up! It doesn’t make sense.” Steve was practically fuming. He’d probably try to punch Jonathan (and lose again) if the other boy was here.

“I don’t really want to talk about it right now. I just feel sort of stupid.”

Steve looked like he was about to press for more details, but Billy laid a hand on his shoulder and he immediately stopped.

“I think it’s a good night for wine, don’t you?” Billy suggested.

“Since when do we have wine?”

“Since I stole it from your parent’s house when we were moving all your shit into here.”

“Couldn’t you have stolen something better than wine. Yuck.”

“What makes you think I didn’t?”

Robin cleared her throat loudly. Now was not the time for dumb and dumber to act like a bickering old couple.

Billy took the hint. “Steve go get it. It’s in the pantry over there. And some glasses, too. No fucking red solo cups or I swear to god…”

Another loud cough from Robin shut him up again. She rolled her eyes. Honestly she felt bad for Nancy if this was the only place besides home that she had to go. These idiots were the worst at comforting people.

Nancy didn’t seem to be paying any attention, though. She was completely zoned out. That wasn’t good. Robin had never dated anyone before but she’d had enough one-sided heartbreak to know that being in your head too much was not a good place to be.

She crossed the room and touched the other girl gently on the shoulder. “Hey do you want to clean up a bit?”

Nancy looked up at Robin as if noticing her for the first time. “Uh, yeah sure.” When she stood up she did so very unsteadily. Robin immediately grabbed her hand and helped her along.

Luckily the boys had a half bath for guests. She didn’t even what to know what their bathroom was like. Probably filled with more hair products than the local beauty supply store. So she led Nancy into the tiny bathroom.

She wet some tissues and began to slowly remove the streaks of makeup from Nancy’s face. Not ideal method to use, but it was the best she had.

After her task was complete she stepped back and looked at the other girl. Her cheeks were red, but she looked pretty. Which was definitely something that Robin had never considered.

“Thanks,” Nancy whispered. “I don’t look so much like a raccoon.”

A joke! That was a good sign.

“Yeah the raccoon look isn’t very in right now. Or so I’ve heard.”

Robin reached over and pushed back a strand of hair that was covering one of the girl’s eyes. Again something she never noticed were Nancy’s eyes.

“I guess we should go and eat dinner. Those cooking classes Billy took really paid off. I was getting fat coming over here and just eating takeout all the damn time,” Robin laughed.

“That’s true. There’s only so many times you can eat pizza in one week.”

They smiled at each other briefly before heading back into the kitchen. Maybe the rest of the year would be easier for both of them with one more friend.


	2. Something good starts in a getaway car

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Billy and Steve are all about getting Robin and Nancy to bond. And Steve has the perfect plan that benefits all parties involved.

“So…” Billy began. He was running his fingers through Steve’s hair as they cuddled on the couch. 

“Mmm…?” his boyfriend replied sleepily. 

“What do you think about Robin and Nancy?”

“What do you mean?” Steve didn’t even bother to open his eyes. He was very close to falling asleep on Billy’s lap.

“About them together. You know like dating.”

That woke Steve up right away. “What! Nancy? And Robin? Dating?”

“Yes, sweetheart. That’s what I said.”

“You want my ex-girlfriend to to date my best friend? That is too weird. Nah uh. I am not for this at all.”

“I don’t see why not. Unless you were thinking about making a move on Nancy yourself.” Billy was teasing of course, but poor Steve panicked. 

“Of course not! Don’t say that! I would never! Baby please…” The other boy fixed his doe-eyed gaze on Billy and pouted.

“Save it, pretty boy. I was only joking. Maybe it is too soon for Nancy to date since what’s his name just broke up with her yesterday.”

“We don’t even know if she’s into- you know… girls.”

“Fine. We’ll just set them up as friends and Nancy can do the rest if she’s interested.”

“What if Robin gets hurt?”  
Billy paused to consider this. He’d fallen hard and fast for Steve Harrington no matter what the risk was. 

“Love is pain, babe.”

“I never knew you were so dramatic.”

Instead of replying, the blond pulled Steve in for a kiss. It was slow and sweet just like his boyfriend. 

______________

Robin almost got detention because her phone kept vibrating during class. She mumbled a quick apology to the teacher and shut it off completely. It was probably Steve texting her. He hadn’t even been out of school for a year and he’d forgotten you couldn’t reply to texts in class.

School was dull though. She did band and drama like every other year, but this time it was different. She’d tasted the outside world and she wanted more of it. It didn’t help that her best friend had his own place. She’d kill to move out of her parent’s house and be independent. 

But she was stuck- for now. 

At the end of the day she went to get her bike to ride home when she heard loud honking. Of course she ignored it until she heard a familiar voice shout her name.

“Hey! Robin! Over here!”

There was her dingus in his stupid BMW convertible with the top down of course. She was a little surprised to see he was without his “better half.”

“What are you doing here? Missing school already?” she yelled back. 

Steve sped towards her without any regard for other students in the parking lot. 

“Didn’t you get my texts?” he inquired, putting his car in park.

“No, you schmuck. I almost got detention because you messaged me so many times. I had to turn my phone off. What do you want?”

“We’re going out.”

“Out where? And who’s we?”

“You, me, Nancy and Billy. And we’re going to a bar, duh.”

“In case you haven’t noticed I am a few years away from the legal drinking age.”

“Well aren’t you lucky I got us these.” He flashed her some laminated cards which were, on further inspection, IDs.

“Fake IDs? Really?” Robin did not want to know where he’d gotten those.  
He was going to tell her anyway, “Chuck at work got these for me in exchange for covering his 5 am shifts on Saturday mornings.”

Steve must be really invested in this. Saturday morning shifts were the worst. It was a bunch of runners who were allergic to gluten and dairy and were mostly vegan. 

“Alright. I’ll come. I assume we’ll be headed to another town?”

“Of course! And it’s a gay bar.”

“Excuse me… what?”

“Robin, get in the fucking car.”

She sighed. There was no arguing with him now. At least she wouldn’t be so much of a third wheel with Nancy there. Sometimes hanging out with Steve and Billy could be a little bit sickening. 

__________________

The music was giving her a headache and not for the first time that night Nancy questioned why she’d agreed to come in the first place. Steve looked desperate and practically begged her without giving her a clear reason why it was so important that she go to a gay bar with him and his boyfriend. It would seem that they could do that totally fine without her. Eventually she’d agreed to come just to shut him up.

So there she was, leaning against the bar- next to Robin. She looked about as uncomfortable as Nancy did. Apparently the was a gay bar for just guys. And since they were still guys after all… most of them smelled terrible. 

Her vodka and cranberry was so watered down that it was hardly worth drinking. With a sigh she set it on the bar and looked over at the other girl. She couldn’t believe she’d never noticed her before. But if Nancy was honest with herself the day King Steve Harrington took an interest in her was the day she forgot to notice anyone else. 

That changed eventually, but it was a tough change and not one she wanted to think about.

“Hey,” she whisper yelled in Robin’s ear. “Want to sit outside? Actually there’s a 7-Eleven next door and I’m dying for a soda or something.”

The other girl looked relieved at the suggestion and grabbed Nancy’s hand. They ran out of the nightclub as fast as they could. 

The cool night air hit them as soon as they got outside. 

“Fuck,” Nancy exclaimed. “I didn’t realize it would be this cold in late August.”

“Me either,” Robin agreed. “I think hot chocolate would be a better idea.”

“You’re a genius.”

That made Robin smile. “I know.”

Their drinks were now in hand and they both felt a little warmer. When a gust of wind blew by they involuntarily scooted closer together. But neither of them made a move to separate. 

“Why did they make us come out here?” Robin asked. She looked as confused as Nancy was.

“I have no clue. Steve didn’t say anything to you either I’m guessing. I thought maybe he and Billy were having problems, but I’m betting I’m wrong by the way they were going at it in there.”

Robin burst out laughing. “I know! They are so disgusting sometimes. Like I could have sworn Billy’s hands were down Steve’s pants. Get a room already.”

“Technically they already have,” Nancy giggled. 

“Well I learned one thing tonight.”

“What’s that?”

“That lesbians mix drinks better than gay guys.”

“Really? Is that so?”

“Oh fuck yes. I’ll have to show you some time.”

“Definitely.”

A silence settled between them, but it wasn’t at all awkward. The warm drink made Nancy feel cozy and surprisingly more relaxed than alcohol might. 

Robin cleared her throat as if she was afraid to say something, but eventually she asked, “Are you doing okay? I mean about the whole break up thing? It’s only been a day so like I can’t believe you are out of your house.”

“To be honest being at the house is worse. My mom is hovering over me and babying me to death. I know she means well, but I don’t want to be bothered with that right now. Plus it’s super embarrassing when your little brother and his girlfriend are constantly making out in the basement.”

The other girl cringed. “Yeah I bet that can be super weird.” 

Nancy sighed and rested her head on Robin’s shoulder. “What about you? How’s senior year?”

She shrugged slightly, but not enough to discourage Nancy’s current position. “It’s whatever. I’m ready to graduate already.”

“I know what you mean.” Nancy wanted to ask about the other girl’s plans after graduation, but she knew from experience that was sometimes the last thing a high school senior wanted to talk about. 

Before either girl could say anything else Billy’s booming voice was heard across the parking lot. 

“There’s the girls! We were wondering where you were!”  
Nancy and Robin exchanged glances. It was obvious from the way the boyfriends were hanging on to each other one of them was going to have to be the designated driver. 

“Steve, hand me the keys,” Nancy demanded. 

With a drunken giggle he happily complied. The guys were in the back seat and Robin was in the front. It was going to be a long drive home with those two making out and moaning behind them.

Robin patted her hand and Nancy smiled. This night wasn’t a total waste.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I was just going to have this in Robin's POV but it didn't really make sense to do that here.


	3. How You Get the Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls hang out for the first time without Steve and Billy and Robin leaves a lasting impression on Nancy.

“Thanks for meeting me,” Nancy said, looking up with bright eyes at Robin who’d just entered the diner.

Robin thought she’d never seen someone look so perky at nine in the morning especially since they had been out so late last night. “No problem. I am totally craving some pancakes right now and some coffee that isn’t Starbucks.”

“Oh my god. Don’t let anyone hear you say that,” the other girl laughed. “It’s almost pumpkin spice season you know.”

“God, I am so glad I’m not working there this fall. Poor Steve.”

Nancy covered her mouth to hide her grin, which was a shame since she was so cute when she smiled.

“So why did you ask me to join you for breakfast?”

“Oh no reason,” Nancy replied. Suddenly she looked very shy. “I just kinda realized that I was one of those girls whose entire life around their boyfriend and now…”

Robin had no idea what that was like, but she definitely understood what it was like to feel lonely.

“Well couldn’t you have waited until a little later?” she teased. “I mean we could have been those annoying girls who ‘brunch.’”

Now the other girl didn’t bother to hide her smile and that made Robin happy.

“I think those kinds of girls have avocado toast and mimosas. Not exactly food we have in Hawkins.”

“Very true. So how’s the job at the paper going?”

“It’s going pretty well actually.”

They made small talk like this for awhile and it felt completely comfortable. Like they’d been doing this for a long time now.

As much as Robin hated to do it she was going to have to thank Steve later for forcing them together.

———

“Billy!” Steve was bouncing up and down on their bed holding his phone up in the air like a trophy.

“What?” his boyfriend groaned, rolling over to face the wall. He covered his head with a pillow because he was still feeling the ramifications of their previous drunken night out.

“Robin just texted and she and Nancy had breakfast together! It’s working. I can’t believe it.”

“Told you so,” Billy mumbled into the mattress.

“I can’t believe this. I am excited for my ex and my best friend to get together? This is so weird.”

“They’re not together yet,” the other boy cautioned him.

“True. I shouldn’t jinx it.”

“No you shouldn’t. Now please come here and lay down. I need to sleep off this hangover.”

Steve sighed contentedly while snuggling up to Billy. He was so happy now. He wanted the same for Robin and Nancy. Plus it would be nice to have Nancy with someone who hadn’t beaten him up before.

———

“So Jonathan broke up with you, huh?”

“Yes, Mike, now will you please leave me alone. I am trying to do my homework.”

Nancy’s little brother ignored that and continued on, “I was really down when El broke up with me. I could give you some pointers if you need.”

“I am not taking relationship advice from a middle schooler. Plus I seem to remember when El broke your heart you moped around for what seemed like ever.”

“Did not!”

Nancy had enough. She got up from her desk and shoved him out of her bedroom. “Go hang out with your friends. And for god’s sake play D&D with Will. He’s just about as whiney as you were not too long ago.”

The last thing she saw before shutting her door was Mike sticking his tongue out at her. Nancy just rolled her eyes. Little brothers could be so annoying. She wished she had Max for a sibling instead if she had to choose another middle schooler. Billy was lucky.

She sat back down at her desk, but did not get back to her homework as she had planned. Instead she took out her phone and opened up the instagram app. It didn’t take her long to find Robin’s page.

There were a few selfies and surprisingly a lot of pictures of Robin and Steve in their Starbucks aprons, which made her laugh. But the rest of the pictures were of places she didn’t recognize and a few of paintings which she assumed Robin had done herself. Nancy stared at them for some time. They were really good. Sort of abstract, but not enough so that you couldn’t tell what they were. Most were portraits with a few landscapes mixed in.

Nancy wished she’d paid more attention in art class now. She didn’t have the right vocabulary to describe the other girl’s artwork. Should she follow her and comment? Or would that be too weird?

Eventually she decided she would, but she would need to clean up her own page first. There were entirely too many pictures of Jonathan so those were the first to go. Unfortunately most of the pictures of herself were taken by him so it was a struggle to decide whether to keep those or not.

In the end she kept the best ones. It was hard to choose because unfortunately Jonathan was a damn good photographer. Nancy sighed. Now it looked empty. God, she was pathetic.

For some reason she found herself calling Steve. She needed validation from someone.

“Hello?” Steve answered sleepily.

“Steve? It’s Nancy. Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Was I really annoying? When I with Jonathan I mean. Like I just feel like…” She felt herself starting to choke up.

“No, Nance. You were just close Jonathan because of the whole Barb thing. He really helped you out.”

It broke her heart to hear Steve talk about that time of their lives like that. She’d broken his heart and here he was trying to cheer her up.

“You are a great friend. I don’t deserve it.”

“Nah, you do. But listen, I’ve gotta go. Billy is cooking an early dinner and he’s letting me chop something… He never lets me help! Do you want to come over?”

Nancy chuckled. “Thanks, but I’ve got some stuff to do at home. Enjoy your dinner.”

Steve said a quick goodbye and then the call disconnected. She opened Instagram back up and clicked “follow” on Robin’s page.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. I put that every time because I truly am grateful.


	4. Baby, We're the New Romantics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nancy and Robin become closer and even agree to collaborate on a project together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Robin loves to paint but you knew that from the previous chapter!

After school the next day Robin biked as fast as she could to Starbucks. She knew that Steve would be taking his break at any minute and she had important things to tell him. The coffee house chain was normally not her scene- not unless she was being paid to be there of course. This news, however, was very important. It could not wait till later.

She arrived huffing and puffing. Her legs were slightly cramped as well. But she powered through it and went to find Steve at his normal spot behind the building near the dumpster.

He was there staring at his phone. No doubt waiting for Billy to text him back. Steve complained all the time about how slow the other boy was to reply. The whole thing would have made Robin roll her eyes if she was not in such a good mood.

“Hey lover boy!” she called out. Steve looked startled but ran to her and caught her up in a giant bearhug.

“What’s up Rob?” he inquired, setting her back down gently. “You look happy. What happened? Did you crack another secret code?”

“No, dingus. I umm…” Robin paused because for some reason she was suddenly embarrassed about the whole thing. It was a stupid thing to be excited over.

“Come on. Spit it out. I don’t have much longer on break you know.”

“I know,” she whined. “Okay so I got a new follower on Instagram and it’s Nancy. She liked a bunch of my pictures and commented on some of the ones of my artwork.”

Steve’s eyes widened in surprise. “That’s really cool. I had no idea you would get this excited over a new follower though. I thought you considered it beneath you?” There was a teasing tone to his voice of course. He just couldn’t resist.

“Shut up.” Robin glared at him. “I just am happy when ever someone appreciates my work.”

“You keep telling yourself that. When you finally want to admit that you may have a tiny crush on Nancy, you know where to find me.” Steve patted her on the back and headed inside to finish his shift.

Of course that doofus would be smug about this. He’d practically forced them together after all. Still this could be dangerous. Who knew if Nancy was even interested in girls? And to be honest her taste in significant others was a bit questionable.

But fuck all that. She was going to stop being such a pessimist for once in her life and concentrate on this small happiness.

The sound of someone throwing away trash brought her back to reality. She needed to get out of here and on her ride home plan her reply to Nancy.

——————

“Nancy, put your phone away at the dinner table,” Mrs. Wheeler scolded. Sometimes it was such a drag still living at home.

She sighed and put her phone down next to her plate. She had been checking every five minutes to see whether or not Robin had replied to her last message. They had been talking on Instagram for a few days when the other girl said it would probably just be easier to text.

Her phone made a little “ding” noise indicating that she had a new message.

“Sweetheart,” Mr. Wheeler said. “Maybe you should go upstairs and talk to whoever that is it seems pretty important.” He gave her an indulgent smile- something very rare from her father.

Without another word she ran to her room and shut her door. Nancy flopped on her bed and unlocked her phone. Robin wanted to call her. That was weird. She hoped nothing was wrong. She replied that was perfectly fine and within minutes her phone was ringing. Nancy ignored the butterflies in her stomach as she answered.

“Hey, is everything okay?” she inquired.

“Oh yeah! It’s fine. I just wanted your help with something.” Robin assured her.

“What is it?”

“Well…. I will totally understand if you don’t want to do this, but I need a model because we’re doing portraits in my art class. We’re supposed to work on it outside of school. I just want to focus on studying someone’s face. I thought you would be better than Steve because if I asked him he might get a big head.”

Nancy laughed at that. “Yeah sure. That would be cool. Where would we do it, though?”

“At my house I have a painting studio in the backyard. My parents set it up for me.”

“Wow that is awesome. When do you want to start?”

“How about tomorrow?”

Nancy agreed and then they decided on a time. After Robin hung up Nancy panicked. What had she just agreed to? She was no model.

Her phone rang again and she was half hoping that it was the other girl calling back to say she’d found someone else, but the caller id said it was Steve.

“Hey Nance! Want to come over tomorrow and watch a movie with me and Billy? The kids won’t be here for once.”

“I can’t. I have plans with Robin at her house tomorrow. You two have fun though.” She quickly ended the call before Steve could pester her for more details.

She didn’t want to reveal that she was modeling for a painting- that would send the poor boy into a frenzy.

Nancy decided to get some sleep so she looked well rested in the morning. Having bags under her eyes was not something she wanted to be captured in a work of art.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Much love.


	5. We're happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revelations amongst the flowers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So IDK much about flowers or what season they bloom etc. so if you do just overlook any horticultural inaccuracies.

“Billy!” Steve exclaimed, running into their bedroom and practically flinging himself on top of his boyfriend. “Robin and Nancy are hanging out tomorrow! At Robin’s house!”

“That’s nice, babe.”

“Why aren’t you more excited?” he replied incredulously. “Wasn’t this your idea?”

“I guess, but I’m going to let you take all the credit of course.”

“How nice of you.”

“I thought so,” Billy grinned. He leaned over to kiss Steve on the nose. “Enough talk about the girls. Let’s cuddle, yeah?”

“Since when does Billy Fucking Hargrove want to cuddle?”

“Since I started dating the sappiest boy in the world.”

“Fuck you.”

“You can do that later if you want.” Then Billy leaned over to press his lips against Steve’s to keep him quiet- for now.

———————

Nancy woke up early to a ton of texts from Steve, which she was planning on ignoring until she got one from Billy begging her to reply to the other boy. Apparently Steve was driving him crazy.

She shot a quick message letting Steve know that her and Robin were just hanging out and doing “girl stuff” and he could interpret that how he wanted.

Usually she didn’t pay much attention to her appearance much as she stayed mostly at home and when she worked at the paper it was easier to be taken seriously the plainer she looked. Men were still pigs sometimes. Especially old guys working in the news industry.

But today she took her time washing her face and applying moisturizer. She thought back to the summer when she went on dates with Jonathan and she followed a similar routine. He never really took notice of her efforts, but she just chalked that up to him being a guy. Maybe Robin would say something about this new shade of lipstick?

Nancy hadn’t hung out with any girls- not since Barb. She didn’t want to think about that now. Raccoon eyes weren’t a good look either.

In the end her makeup looked natural as she had planned, but she felt really pretty. Nicer than she had in a long time.

She was on her way out the door when her mom stopped her. “Where are you going looking so nice?” Her mother had a smile on like she knew something was up.

“I’m just hanging out at a friend’s house. Her name is Robin. She worked with Steve at Starbucks over the summer.”

“Aww, honey. I’m so glad you’re getting out and doing things. We all need good girl friends in our lives.”

Her mom was being so sincere it was sort of uncomfortable. Nancy hadn’t been talking to her much lately.

“When I get home do you want to put in a movie and paint our nails like we used to?”

Mrs. Wheeler’s smile grew even larger. “That sounds great. Now go have fun!”

And with that Nancy was out the door. She felt better about herself than she had in awhile.

———————

Robin was pacing nervously in the foyer waiting for Nancy to knock on the door. She had texted she was on her way about 15 minutes ago. The other girl would be here any second.

Mrs. Buckley was out running errands and her dad was probably playing golf or something. That was a relief. She wasn’t ready for Nancy to meet her parents. Even if they were just friends.

Instead of a knock she heard the doorbell which made her jump. Robin quickly recovered though and opened the door.

“Hey,” she said a little breathlessly. Much to her surprise Nancy enveloped her in a hug.

“Hi! It’s so good to see you. Especially away from the guys.”

That made Robin laugh. “Tell me about it. I mean not only are they guys, and guys are gross in my opinion, but they are so all over each other all the time.” She fake gagged, which made Nancy laugh this time.

“Anyway,” Robin continued. “Let’s head outside.” She took a deep breath, hopefully not an obvious one, and grabbed Nancy’s hand to pull her along.

Nancy squeezed it and followed close behind her.

“Wow,” the other girl breathed. “This is awesome.”

Robin paused and looked around as if seeing her backyard for the first time. It was very nice because her mother had taken a lot of time into planting beautiful trees and flowers making it look like Eden in the midst of small town Indiana.

“My mom likes to garden.”

“That’s an understatement,” Nancy chuckled. “I don’t even know what half these plants are. Well I know these.” She dropped Robin’s hand and ran towards the corner of the garden. It was actually Robin’s favorite spot.

“Sunflowers!” Nancy looked so delighted, Robin could tell it from the sound of her voice and the look on her face. She was positively glowing. That’s when it hit her- she was definitely in love with Nancy Wheeler.

This was a girl who tried her hardest everyday to be happy for other people, but Robin knew it was hard to do. She was the same way. She didn’t know everything that Nancy had been through, but she knew now she’d been wrong about her. She wasn’t little miss perfect. She was trying just as hard as everyone else to make the most out of every moment.

The way the sun shined on her face made her look radiant and next to the sunflowers… well Nancy put those to shame.

“Wait here while I get my easel and stuff!” Robin shouted. It was tricky to paint outside, but if the impressionists could do it then so could she.

“Do you need any help?” Nancy questioned as soon as she returned with all her supplies.

“Nope! You just stay right there. I want to paint you like this.”

The other girl looked surprised, but didn’t protest. She just continued to admire the flowers.

Robin was no Van Gogh, but she could get the sunflowers right- that she was certain of. Nancy however would be a different story. How could she capture this moment forever? She wouldn’t know until she tried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was feeling very gay tonight hence how this chapter was born. I love it very much and hope you did too.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This is one of many WIPs I have going on, but I have been feeling lady love lately so I hope that I can work on this more.


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